(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a layout of a metal oxide semiconductor, MOS, image sensor which will increase photon induced current and more particularly to increasing the area of the depletion region seen by a photon stream.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Image sensors are useful in a number of applications. These image sensors use the energy of a photon to create an electron-hole pair or to change charge distribution in a way that can be detected and related to incoming light. It is of general interest to have the image sensors operate as efficiently as possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,327 to Nath et al. describes a grid type electrode pattern for use in a photovoltaic device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,263 to Kuo et al. describes an amorphous silicon color detector using different bias voltages to detect different colors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,060 to Kawahara et al. describes a method of inspecting image sensors formed on a semiconductor wafer using a grove cut in the surface of the wafer to separate the characteristics of one sensor from another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,223 to Hynecek describes a semiconductor image sensor using potential wells to store charge. Light incident on the device modulates the charge stored in the potential wells which. This charge modulation is detected to provide an image sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,221 to Garcia et al. describes a method for fabricating thinned back-illuminate solid state image sensors.